Naxalite carrying bounty of Rs 50,000 nabbed by UP ATS at Bareilly railway station

BAREILLY: A wanted Naxalite carrying a bounty of Rs 50,000 on his head was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of UP Police here on Wednesday. The accused was identified as Kheem Singh alias Krishna, a native of Someshwar in Almora district of Uttarakhand. Asim Arun, inspector general of UP ATS, said that Singh was arrested from Bareilly railway station based on a tip-off given by Manish Srivastava, who has been in their custody for involvement in Naxalite activities. He added that Singh was heading to Dhanbad to meet his fellow cadres when he was arrested. The ATS sleuths also recovered a country-made pistol, pen drive, knife, wire cutter, five cartridges and related literature from him. Sources said that the accused would be taken to Lucknow and presented before a court. Police said that Singh was active in many farmers’ agitations between 1983 and 2003 and was a member of CPI (Maoist). After completing his higher secondary education from Almora in 1983, he enrolled for BSc but dropped out to join a farmers’ movement. In 2003, he joined the Maoist Central Committee of India (MCCI) and allegedly tried to set an SDM’s vehicle on fire in Nainital in 2016. ATS officials said that he was now planning to join the central committee of CPM when he was arrested.

According to sources, Singh has several cases against him in Uttarakhand and police had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head. Earlier this month, the ATS had arrested Srivastava and his wife Varsha alias Anita from Bhopal for their suspected involvement in Naxalite activities.